If the weather won’t prove that it’s summer, I’ll just have to trick myself into believing it is and somehow achieve that nice warm summery glow. So first stop to this trickery was to make some ice cream, then to turn on the heating, shut my eyes and pretend I was in the glorious heights of summer as I merrily made my way through the tub of blackberry deliciousness. I’m not sure if you’ve spotted any blackberries in the shops recently, but they are whoppers. It’s a little early in the season for them so maybe they were forced to grow and went a bit mental, they’re pretty tasty nonetheless and all the better for the added cream and sugar of ice cream. I had to buy them for a job, but perhaps best to save this recipe for later in the summer when they’ll be packed full of flavour. For the time being, you could swap in strawberries or raspberries perhaps?

Ingredients

400ml milk

350ml double cream

1 vanilla pod

5 egg yolks

100g caster sugar

400g blackberries

Split the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the seeds and place (pod and seeds) in a pan with the milk and double cream. Gently bring up to the boil and then remove from the heat, allow to infuse for 20 minutes. Meanwhile blitz the blackberries until smooth. Remove the vanilla pod and in a large bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. Slowly pour over the warmed milk, stirring as you pour. Stir through the blackberry puree. Allow to cool, then churn according to the machine’s instructions* and freeze until ready to use. Remove from the freezer about 10 minutes before serving so it softens a little.

*I appear to have lost an all important part to my ice cream machine so churning wasn’t possible on this occasion. I stirred it every so often while it was freezing, but that wasn’t really enough as it was still a bit grainy, tasty but grainy. So, I do recommend using a machine. If you don’t have one, it’s still possible to make ice cream, just stir it around every 30 mins while it’s freezing to break down the ice crystals.